Multitrophic-community
Guides
Aciurina bigeloviae
Cotton-gall Tephritid
Aciurina bigeloviae is a gall-inducing tephritid fly native to western North America that forms distinctive white, woolly 'cotton' galls on Ericameria nauseosa (rabbitbrush), specifically the variety graveolens. The species was originally described as Trypeta bigeloviae by Cockerell in 1890. It exhibits Type I wing pattern morphology and produces spherical cotton galls that serve as microhabitats for complex arthropod communities. The species is sister to A. trixa, with which it occurs sympatrically in New Mexico, though the two species produce markedly different gall types.